Changing of the guard

The company, founded by local entrepreneurs in Schenectady in 1985, brought in outsider Suren Pai as CEO in 2004. Last year, Pai moved the company’s headquarters to New Jersey, though it still has a division based in Schenectady.

Since Pai’s arrival, top lieutenants of founder and former CEO John Botti have been dropping.

First to go at the end of 2004 was Peter Smith, whom the company had hired a year earlier as its new chief operating officer. Then, in January 2005, went John Waters, chief administrative officer, who joined the company months before Pai arrived. Shortly after, Chief Financial Officer Dennis Bunt, a 13-year veteran of the company, left with a $300,000 severance agreement. Botti himself had stayed on as chairman and a consultant, though he doesn’t have any of those roles anymore.

The company’s most recent annual report, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, tells the tale.

The company also filed year-end financials, showing a $5.9 million loss in the fiscal fourth quarter and a $17.8 million loss for the year, which ended June 30. It’s an improvement from the $8.4 million lost in the fiscal fourth quarter a year earlier and the $19.2 million lost in the previous fiscal year.